Context and rationale

Initially, the Young Scholars Programme mainly focused on family learning. This was informed by Professor Charles Desforges OBE’s seminal study (2003), which states that:

“…parental involvement in the form of ‘at-home good parenting’ has a significant positive effect on children’s achievement and adjustment even after all other factors shaping attainment have been taken out of the equation. In the primary age range the impact caused by different 5 levels of parental involvement is much bigger than differences associated with variations in the quality of schools. The scale of the impact is evident across all social classes and all ethnic groups.”

Professor Desforges remains a close adviser to the programme.

In its second phase, the Young Scholars Programme is now working more closely with schools and offering professional development for teachers.

All children deserve a happy childhood full of joy, optimism, and good physical health. Children thrive best in environments which acknowledge their special strengths, help them in mastering challenges and in sharing their interests, curiosity, creativity, critical thinking skills and depth of understanding and how they can help with this. need to help children to increase their learning power.

Our strong message, backed by neuroscience, to parents, children and schools is that a person’s intelligence is not fixed at birth: intelligence can increase and ability can change. Brain plasticity is the capacity of the brain to change, and the human brain maintains an amazing plasticity throughout life. Greater understanding of aspects of intelligence helps parents and teachers to abandon deterministic views about educational stereotypes.

All the activities are designed to stimulate the young minds through talking and doing.

Our new activities reflect the guidance of the OfS. In February 2022, its Director for Fair Access and Participation, John Blake, said:

“There have never been more opportunities for schools to partner with universities and colleges to raise attainment and improve access and participation in higher education… We know there are persistent gaps in attainment between learners from advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds, which start early in life and continue through school and into their later education and employment careers.”